Apparatus for distilling water.



PATENTED- SEPT. 4, 1906.

0. PARKER. APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WATER.

APPLIOATION FILED JUNE 9, 1903.

2 8HEETSSHEET 1.

WITNbASSES:

M ATTORNEY.

ERS cm. WAsHumnm, m c,

PATENTED SEPT. 4, 1906.

0. PARKER. APPARATUS FOR DISTILLING WATER.

"APPLICATION FILED JUNE9,1903.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

Qvi lnamea 52 Q 8 (Ta UNITED STATES PATENT @FFTGE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 4, 1906.

Application filed June 9,1903. Serial N0- 160,699-

To (tZZ whom it play concern.-

Be it known that I, ORIN PARKER, a citizen of the United States,residing in the city and county of Dubuque and State of Iowa, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Apparatus for DistillingTater; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, andexact description of the invention, which Will enable others skilled inthe art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has relation to apparatus for distilling water, withspecial reference to small stills for family use; and its objects are toavoid loss of vapor from the boiler; to separate all particles of sprayor water otherwise involved from the steam before reaching thecondenser; to. avoid loss of distillate by the condensation of the steamwhile on route from the boiler to the condenser; to prevent heatreaching the condenser from the boiler, otherwise than in the vapordistilled; to secure automatically in the condenser the mixture of airand steam that will best provide for the condensation of the vapor sentinto the condenser; to secure equal efliciency of operation with varyingamounts of heat; to store and aerate the water distilled in theapparatus; to provide means for supplying distilled water at a smallcost and without the employment of an expert, and With but little careand attention on the part of the operator, and a further object is toprovide an apparatus in which it makes but little difference what thetemperature of the condensing surface is so long as it is belowboiling-point of water.

It consists in a boiler or retort open at the top, into which is set adiaphragm and a tank forming a steam-tight or water sealed boiler. Thistank is divided into compartments, consisting of a separator, a conduit,a reservoir for holding the distillate, an air-tight con-(lensing-chamber, and a tank at the top supplied with water against thebottom of which the steam is condensed. The boiler and condenser areconnected through the separator by a steam-conduit, and the condenserand reservoir by a discharge-pipe that dips into a water-tank and formsa water seal.

The following specification, when taken in connection with the drawingsaccompanying the same, will point out in detail the manner in which Iaccomplish the objects sought.

Figure 1 is a vertical section through the center of the device. Fig. 2is a horizontal section on line 1 1 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a perspectiveof the diaphragm, showing the openings therein. Fig. 4 is an enlargedperspective View of one of the openings in the diaphragm.

Referring to the drawings, A represents the boiler, which preferablyconsists of a circular tank holding the Water to be distilled. l/Vithinthis boiler A is set a tank B, smaller than the boiler, open at itsbottom and resting on the inner surface of the bottom of the boiler,thereby making a water seal for the boiler and rendering it practicallya steamtight boiler. This tank B extends above the boiler and is dividedinto various compartments hereinafter described.

lVithin the tank B and over the top of the water in the boiler A is seta diaphragm D (shown in Figs. 1 and 3) upon the standards or legs E,conveniently set in triangular position. This diaphragm is provided withopenings f, which are set to open in different directions toward thecircumference of the diaphragm and at no great distance from the center.The openings are preferably made by cutting a slot in the body of thediaphragm and pressing the metal F on one side of the slot up into ahalf-cone shape, leaving the only opening f. I have shown four of theseopenings arranged about the center of the diaphragm, but it is manifestmore or fewer of these openings may be used.

Over the diaphragm D is a separator or separating-chamber G, into whichthe steam passes on its way to the condenser. In this separator orseparating-chamber all the particles of water carried up by the steamthrough the'opening's f are separated from the steam before the steam'passes up through the conduit into the condenser.

Over the separator or separating-chamber is a compartment I, filled withnon-heat-con ducting meterial J, designed to prevent the condensation ofthe steam on the bottom of the compartment and also to prevent thetransmission of heat to the condenser, and this compartment alsosurrounds the conduit H, which leads from the steam-generating chamberto the condensing-chamber. Around the conduit H above the compartment Iis a reservoir K, in which the distillate is received, stored, andaerated. Around this reservoir K near the top are port-holes 7r throughthe sides of the tank B, which provide means for the complete aerationof the distillate. Within the reservoir K there is attached on the underside of the covering L of the reservoir K a "water seal M, whichconsists of a tank O, with opening an at i s top and a pipe R extendingthrough the covering L and. opening at its upper end into the condenserN and at its lower end into the tank 0.

Above the reservoir K is a condensingchamber N. This chamber is madeairtight by the water seals in the tank 0 and in the boiler A. Above thecondenser N is a water-condensing tank P. The roof of the chamber N iscurved up at N at the center over the conduit H for the purpose ofpreventing any distillate that may be formed over the conduit fromfalling back into the conduit H.

The manner of operating my device is substantially as follows: Theboiler A is filled with water and the tank B is set therein and tank Pis also filled with water. Heat is then applied to the base of theboiler. The steam generated in the boiler will rise with the particlesof water and will immediately come in contact with the under side of thediaphragm D, and a large portion of-the par ticles of water that may becarried by the steam will be separated from the steam and will fall backinto the boiler. The steam will then rush up through the openings f inthe diaphragm, and as these openings are formed at right angles to eachother around the diaphragm the steam will acquire a rapid rotarymovement within the separator and the remaining particles of water willbe' separated from the steam and will pass back into the boiler over therim of diaphragm D and the dried steam will escape through the conduitup into the condenser.

It will be observed that as the roof of the separator and the conduitare constructed of nonheat-conducting material little or no steam willbe condensed till it reaches the condenser.

The steam in the condenser will be condensed against the bottom of thetank P and the distillate will pass down through the pipe R into thetank 0, and when the tank 0 is filled will pass out through the openingan of the tank into the reservoir K, where it will be cooled and aeratedby the air supplied through the port-holes 7r.

Since the greater the admixture of air or other foreign gases or vaporswith steam in a condenser the slower the condensation, other thingsbeing equal, and the less the admixture the more rapid the condensation,it fol lows that if there is too great a quantity of air present thecondensation will be delayed and the supply of steam be more rapid thanthe condensation, the pressure in the condenser will be raised,resulting in the breaking of the seal outwardly, whereupon the air willbe expelled with a portion of the steam until such a moment that thesteam condenses as rapidly as furnished. Should the steam condense inthe condensing-chamber more rapidly than furnished, the pressure would.fall in the condenser below that of the atmosphere in the reservoir andthe seal between the reservoir and condenser be broken inwardly by theair which would then enter the condenser. The effect of this admissionof air to the condenser would be to retard the condensation of the steamuntil such a time that the rate of condensation and supply would becomeequalized, whereupon the seal would be reestablished. It also follows asa further result that the efficiency of the device will be very nearlythe same whatever the amount of heat applied to the boiler, so long asthis be within the capacity of the machine. The conduit H is projectedabove the bottom of the condenser to provide storagespace for the waterdrawn up from the water seal. when broken inward. Hence the pipe R andtank M serve not only for a water seal to render the condensingchamberair-tight, but also serve to provide an air-clearance or equalizer toequalize the rate of condensation to the rate of supply in the condenserand secure the proper admixture of air for the most effectivecondensation, and it will be seen that there will be an. effective waterseal as long as there is any distillate from the condenser. This methodof supplying air to the condenser also avoids the possibility of drawingwater up from the boiler into the condenser upon the sudden formation ofa partial vacuum in the condenser, as in the case where the source ofheat is suddenly removed. The regulation of the pressure in thecondenser in proportion to the steamsupply and to the needs ofthccondensation also provides that the machine may continue workingpractically at an unchanged rate until the temperature of water in thecon- (lensing-tank reaches near to the boilingpoint. This avoids thenecessity for frequent or, in fact, for any change in the water in thetank -P. Hence little care and attention is required to operate thisdevice to the best advantage.

It will be observed that the boiler and the condenser are water sealedand that there is no opening for the free escape of steam intended forcondensation at any point from the place of formation to the point ofcondensation. and that therefore there can be no loss of distillate fromthe steam escaping without being subjected to pressure in the condenser,and, further, that the insulation between the conduit, the separator,and the boiler, on the one side, and the reservoir and the condenser onthe other side, avoids loss of heat from and condensation of. the steamwhile en route from the boiler to the point of utilization in thecondenser and prevents heat being conveyed from the boiler to thecondenser otherwise than in the steam, thus l securing great economy inoperation.

Having now described my invention, what I claim is- 1. A water-stillcomprising a boiler and a diaphragm arranged in the path of thesteamcurrent, said diap agm being formed with a series of hoodedopenings directing the currenit1 of steam at right angles to its normalpat v 2. A water-still comprising a boiler and a diaphragm arranged inthe path of the steamcurrent, said diaphragm being formed with a seriesof hooded openings directing the current of steam at right angles to itsnormal path, the mouth of said openings leading in the said directioncircumferentially of the diaphragm, whereby to give the steam passingtherethrough a rotary motion.

3. A water-still comprising a boiler, a conduit leading therefrom, acondensing-chamer arranged above the conduit, a reservoir arranged belowthe condensing-chamber and a normally water-sealed communication betweensaid condensing-chamber and reservoir.

4. A water-still comprising a boiler, a conduit leading therefrom, acondensing-chamber arranged above the conduit, a reservoir arrangedbelow the condensingchan1ber, a cylinder depending within the reservoirand in communication therewith and an inlettube depending within thecylinder and in gommunication with the condensing-cham- 5. A water-stillcomprising a boiler, a conduit leading therefrom, a condensing-chamberarran ed above the conduit, a reservoir arran ed below thecondensing-chamber, a cylinder depending within the reservoir and incommunication therewith and an inlet tube depending within the cylinderand in communication with the condensing-chamber, the outlet of saidtube being arranged below the communication between the cylinder andreservoir.

6. A still comprising a boiler, a diaphragm arranged in the path of thesteam travel and constructed to direct the steam at right angles to itsnormal path, a condensing-chamber, a reservoir arranged between thecondensingchamber and diaphragm, and means of com munication between thespaces above the diaphragm and reservoir.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification in thepresence of two subscribing witnesses.

ORIN PARKER.

Witnesses:

- M. M. CADY, M. REINKER.

